Man caught looking at pornographic images at library in Lompoc

LOMPOC, Calif. - People at the Lompoc Library use the computers for everything from movies to spreadsheets. but what one Lompoc woman saw on a screen Monday made her skin crawl.

"Literally out of the corner of my eye, on one of the computers an image caught my attention and I was completely shocked," the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said.

She said she caught the man looking at extremely graphic pornographic pictures.

"My stomach turned right away by what I saw. I started shaking. I immediately told the library staff about what happened and I couldn't even speak clearly because I was so upset," she explained.

If you take a look at how the library's computers are laid out, it's pretty easy to see what someone next to you might be browsing.

Library Director Sarah Bleyl says they do have filters on their computers but the man was looking at the pictures on Facebook, which is harder to prevent.

"The library is CIPA compliant and CIPA is Child Internet Protection Act. Our computers do have blocks on them so if people search for certain terms they will not have any items displayed however we cannot guarantee the safety of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram," Bleyl explained.

Library staff told the man to stop looking at the images and he complied. However the Lompoc mom was not expecting to see him there again the next day - back on the computer.

"My daughter is only nine and I know if she would've witnessed that.. she's very sensitive.. it would've scarred her, no question. I'm still dealing with it which I know sounds silly to say," the mom said.

Bleyl says in order to be kicked out from the library, people have to be repeat offenders, telling us: "If it happens again, if we have to talk to them more than once or they keep yelling or keep looking at stuff we ask them to leave for the day, which then progresses to a week, a month, etc."

The witness we spoke with says she hopes she can overcome what she experienced as she loves going to the library with her daughter.

"The next day after it happened my daughter was like: "Hey mom can we go to the library?" and I even said to her - "Are you sure? Do we really want to go back?" And I hated doing that because this library is so amazing, we've been coming here for years and I've never experienced anything like that," she said.

If you ever see anything that makes you uncomfortable at the library, the staff asks that you let them know immediately. They hope they can continue to make the library be a place everyone feels comfortable in.